Echoes of Yesterday
by Jageroux
Summary: AU. Edolas isn't the only alternate reality within Fairy Tail. It's merely one of many - and as Cobra finds himself in a strange new world, he must come to terms with who he is and what he can be. Facing a new threat oppressing a world ravaged by war, Cobra finds himself allied with familiar yet new faces in a fight for「Freedom」against what seems to be a merciless tyrant.


**A/N:** Feels like it's been forever since I wrote anything. While that's certainly not the case, it feels like it.

Returning to, and rewriting, my biggest story was something I always wanted to but never really had the motivation or drive to. But, I figured I may as well. If you know what the title of this chapter is a reference to, then good on you. If you don't, then that's cool too.

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Disclaimer: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

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You know that feeling when you've slept for a long time? It's like you're covered in cement – your limbs don't want to cooperate. Your eyelids don't want to open. You want to stay in the mental coffin you put yourself in, but something else – something inside you – urges you to wake. To move – to live.

That was the situation Cobra found himself in. While his body seemed to be unresponsive, his mind was grossly aware of his surroundings. The subtle bumps of the carriage whenever the wheels rolled over the uneven road. The smell of sulfur was heavy in the air and made him gag, his motion sickness only making matters worse.

Yet, through his discomfort, his mind could only wander. Where was he? He had travelled all across Fiore, yet he couldn't think of a single landscape that made him feel so… Uneasy. What had even happened? One second, the Oración Seis were all together, then…? His mind continuously drew nothing but blanks, and it infuriated him. If his body cooperated with him, he'd probably be banging his head against the metal bars of the carriage he was inside of.

What was he supposed to do? He was… Nervous – anxious. There was no worse feeling than being trapped. He had to do something. He had to move – he had to act. His eyelid was so heavy, though. His entire body felt like it was covered in molasses. He could feel his heart banging against his chest as if it was demanding freedom from its casket.

Was he, perhaps, dead? He wasn't sure, but it was a possibility. No, he wasn't dead. The dead didn't breathe. He was breathing. He was alive. Whatever happened, he survived. He always had – he always would. But, how was he supposed to? When his own body refused to cooperate, what was he supposed to do?

 _'Easy, Cobra.'_ He sought to calm himself, mentally. He was fine. He would be fine. He'd figure something out – he always did. Right, he was smart. Maybe not as smart as Sorano, but he wasn't an idiot. He just had to use his head and think… As difficult as that was. Not being stupid was easy – but being smart was still challenging. _'What do I know…? I can't move. I'm in a carriage. The air is… Dry. It's hot. Really hot. I just… I have to move.'_ He reasoned calmly, attempting to get his body to comply with his request. Even if he was just able to open his eye, he'd be making some form of progress.

Steeling his resolve, Cobra focused on opening his eye. He'd fought countless mages – powerful people – but this was the hardest thing he'd ever attempted to do. It was somewhat absurd, but it was the position he found himself in. Yet, he never stopped struggling.

 _Twitch._

He could feel his eyeball moving as his eyelid began to spasm. Slowly, painfully, Cobra gradually opened his eye and winced immediately, the light from the blazing sun making it quite the painful experience. But, he did it. And it seemed like the very act of opening his eye gave his body the message to wake up as he felt the weight which seemed to hold him down slowly beginning to disappear.

Blinking sluggishly, Cobra squinted as he fought to see. His vision was blurry and it felt like his body had been sent through a meat grinder. As his head lulled to the side, he struggled to lift him arms only for his blurry vision to slowly bring to his attention the fact that his wrists were bound. Eyebrows furrowing, Cobra struggled to comprehend his situation. Was he… Did the Magic Council arrest him? How? The last thing he remembered was…

Nothing.

His mind drew a blank. There was just nothing. He could feel his heart racing, going against how sluggish and heavy his body felt.

"Fuck." Cobra croaked out, his voice practically cracking as he became aware of just how dry his mouth was.

The sound of metal clashing with metal startled him and his body reacted naturally, instinctively pushing away from the bars of the carriage as he fell onto his side, his eyes barely able to make out the shadow-y visages of the people walking alongside his cage.

Taking a deep breath, Cobra began to slowly push himself from the floor of the carriage, his legs still numb as he began to look around. With gradually clearing vision, Cobra became increasingly nervous when he saw his surroundings.

He didn't care about the fact he was in a cage with a group of people surrounding him. No, he was more concerned about the landscape. It was so… _Fucked_. With the sun blazing down upon the hellish desert, the stray buildings that seemed to erupt from the dunes of orange sand made Cobra starkly aware that something was wrong.

"W-What…?" He spoke under his breath, his voice hoarse and partially unfamiliar to even himself. Almost immediately a metal rod was smacked against the bars of his cage and he recoiled, the sudden noise hurting his sensitive ears. Blinking, Cobra took in the sight of his captors. They were all dressed the same – leather clothing with metal spikes accenting their outfits. The one with the pole, who seemed to hate Cobra's voice, had even went so far as to wear mask with the same metal spikes that covered the lower half of his face.

Eyebrows furrowed, Cobra sat in silence as his mind swam.

 _'What the hell? I've never even heard of a place like this before… And who the hell are these guys? Don't see any guild marks on them…'_ While his body was still sluggish, his mind was in overdrive. On one hand, he wanted to break the chains and take the fight to them. On the other, he knew that was impossible, and even if he could, he would have no clue where he was.

As it stood, whether he liked it or not, he'd have to stay quiet and try to figure things out. They were, regardless, taking him _somewhere_ , and if he was lucky by the time they got there, he'd be in fighting condition.

He was rattled out of his thoughts when the carriage came to a violent stop and his body slammed into the front of the cage. Grunting, he held his head as he attempted to figure out what was going on.

"Woah, woah, lads. No need to be so… Prickly." A voice – masculine, teenaged– said with a jovial mirth, as if he was pleased with his own joke.

"Leave, bird! Our catch!" The slaver with the face mask said and Cobra quickly associated him with the position of leader.

"Woah, man, I ain't tryna steal from ya's. I just wanna take a peek 's all." The voice said and face mask let out a sound that was barely human.

"I'll crush bird! Tear puny wings off!" The slaver threatened and Cobra rolled onto his side, finally getting a good look at the 'bird'. As he guessed, it was a guy – probably in his late teens. Short black hair, slightly spiky with the right side of his head shaved. He had unnatural red eyes, but aside from that he didn't look like anything special from where Cobra was laying. His clothes certainly weren't spectacular – jacket, shirt, pants and boots.

"Aw, c'mon, lads! No need to get so angry! I haven't done anything… _Yet._ " He spoke casually, the same amusement in his voice.

"Tricky bird! Deceitful bird! I kill bird!" Face Mask roared and Cobra watched as the teen raised his hands in surrender.

 _'Wait, no… Something is wrong…'_ He realized mentally, noticing the teen's facial expression lose its amusement and become… Cold. Before Cobra could realize what was happening, the metal spikes attached to the slaver's clothes _collapsed_ inwards, being forced into their bodies as the teen's hands curled into fists.

"I tried to be nice, but you people just won't let me. Same thing every time. Such a shame." He commented without an ounce of remorse as he opened his hands and the metal expanded violently and the slavers' bodies erupted.

Flinching at the sudden explosion of gore all around, Cobra froze when the teen approached his cage.

"Well, well, well… Here we are again." The mysterious teen chuckled as he eyed Cobra, his expression of amusement seeming to return. "You look like shit, buddy." He commented as he took a step back swiped his hand to the right, the metal bars of the cage bending away from one another while the chains on his wrist snapped instantly.

Blinking, Cobra looked down at his hands before back to the teen who seemed to be watching him carefully. Slowly, painfully, Cobra crawled forward through the bars that had been bent open. Falling out of the cage, Cobra hit the sand hard and instantly began to writhe as the hot sand burned into his body.

Oh. Apparently he only had pants on.

"Dammit…" He breathed out as the teen hooked an arm around his own, pulling him to his feet.

"Come on, on your feet." He said as he helped Cobra up, only letting go once the Dragon Slayer leaned against the cage. "There ya go, now you're on your feet." The teen said while clasping his hands together, pleased that Cobra was capable of moving.

"Who the hell are you?" Cobra questioned, his piercing gaze focused solely on his 'savior'.

"A boy is no one." The teen replied with a 'whoosh' as he waved his hands in front of his face in a circular motion, attempting to be as 'mysterious' as he could be.

Though, that only served to aggravate Cobra.

"The fuc-" His question was cut off when the teen's hand was clasped over his mouth and he was forced against the cage, the burning metal searing his back.

"No more questions, sorry. I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain. Ain't that some shit? Anyway, sorry about this." He laughed with a genuine smile and Cobra's eyebrows furrowed.

 _'Sorry about wha-"_ The teen slammed the metal rod that previously belonged to the slaver into Cobra's face and the Dragon Slayer crumbled to the ground unconscious.

"Son of a…" Cobra cursed as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. Holding a hand to the side of his head, he staggered on his feet as his head throbbed and he could feel blood trailing down his hand. Pulling his hand away from his head, he blinked several times in response to his blood covered hand.

"Wha…" He mumbled under his breath as he took an unsteady step forward before falling to a knee. Everything was so uncomfortable. The sun was beaming down on him as if he infuriated some Sun god he didn't know about while the orange sand below him burned at his feet. "Shit…" He breathed out heavily as he looked around.

Ruins. Sand. Ruins. Sand.

That's all there was. Well, that and bits and pieces of slaver scattered around the immediate area. Looking closely, he was disappointed to find that even their shoes seemed to be in tatters – not just their bodies.

Taking a deep breath, he could only sigh as he fell back and sat on the sand, hand to the side of his head as he attempted to slow the bleeding.

"What the hell are you doing, man?" A familiar voice called out, obvious irritation laced throughout his tone.

Looking over his shoulder, Cobra was visibly surprised to see Sawyer, known to most as 'Racer'.

"I… What….?" The Dragon Slayer said as his friend slung his arm over his shoulder and helped him to his feet.

"I've been looking all over for you, man. After we got separated, I wasn't sure what the hell happened." Racer commented as he began to walk forward, Cobra staggering along with him.

"What the hell even happened?" Cobra questioned and Racer looked at him like he had grown a second head.

"Seriously? We were in Hargeon with Jellal – fighting those Alvarez bastards. Then, some bastard summoned Brain and I, all by myself, kicked his ass while the rest of you hid-"

"Suck my dick, Sawyer."

"If only you were lucky enough, Erik. Anyway, we kicked Brain's ass, but right before he went down some other asshole showed up and everything just… Went boom. I woke up in a building far from here – couldn't even use my magic so I've been walking for a couple of hours now. Eventually, I found your sorry ass looking all pathetic." Racer commented and Cobra huffed, rolling his eye in response.

"Oh shut up…" Cobra groaned out, silently salty Racer hadn't woken up in as shit of a situation as he did.

"What happened to you anyway?" Racer inquired and Cobra recounted everything he could remember and Racer let out a short whistle.

"Ain't that some shit." Racer commented and Cobra nodded.

"We need to find everyone else. Have to figure out where we are." He decided, leaning on Racer even more as walking began to feel even more difficult.

"Sounds like a plan, man. Sounds like a plan."

"Hey… Sawyer?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever… You ever think we maybe… Made the wrong choices?" Cobra inquired and Racer blinked, not expecting the question.

"Uh… I don't know, to be honest. Never really thought about it. Usually just did whatever Brain or MacBeth asked me to do without really questioning it. Destroy this guild, destroy that guild… Just seemed like the natural thing to do. Never really had a reason to put much thought into it. It was just what I had to do." Racer said and Cobra nodded slowly. "You?"

"Sometimes, yeah. It was always the same with me… Even when…Even when I knew I wasn't doin' the right thing, I did it anyway just because I was…. Angry or somethin'. Like the world owed me something for what happened in the Tower. Now that I think about it, a lot of times, I wish I could just kind of… Go back. Change some things. Do things differently."

"Well, ain't that why we joined up with that asshole Jellal? I mean, I don't like the guy, but from where I'm standing, he's trying to repent for just as much as us, y'know? I think that's the only reason I'm able to even be near him. I mean, I ain't trying to be no member of Fairy Tail or some shit, but I guess if I can do the right thing, I'd do it without thinking." Racer shrugged slightly and Cobra looked at him with a hint of scrutiny.

"Do we even deserve that, though? I mean… Let's be honest, we've been some pretty shitty people ever since we were free. Yeah, we could say Brain was manipulating us, but we went along with it regardless. I don't think we can ever really be the good guys – we can pretend, sure, but…"

"Fuck kind of thinkin' is that, Erik? When the hell did you become such a puss? Oh boo-hoo, we did some shitty things in the past, no doubt, but this is now. Since when the hell did our past define us, huh?!"

"Since we pretty much became assholes ever since we left the Tower….? Because it was pretty shitty and that defined us?"

"Shut up, Erik. I'm trying to be motivational. I don't need you making sense. You're ruining the mood."

"Uh-huh…"

"Either way, no matter what, the future isn't written in stone, right? Which means we can change and be whatever the hell we wanna be. We wanna be assholes, we'll be assholes. We wanna be heroes, we'll be heroes. Either way, the choice is ours. And that choice is somethin' no one can take from us." Racer declared and Cobra nodded, a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Yeah… I like that."

Falling to his knees, Cobra swayed back and forth slightly, dehydration and exhaustion making his concussion even worse. With the hallucination of Racer banished by his slowly deteriorating mental fortitude, Cobra's swaying began to slow until he fell face-first into the ground.

Blinking slowly, his dazed eye began to blur as he laid on the dirt trail, barely able to make out the words on the sign. Welcome to the Town of Magnolia.

 _'Mag…nolia…?'_ Cobra thought sluggishly as he struggled to push himself away from the ground, forcing himself to his knees as he began to crawl forward. Slowly, he made his way to his feet and he staggered along the dusty trail to Magnolia. He didn't know when or where, but he had made his way out of the desert and currently found himself in a dying forest. _'Out of the frying pan into the skillet._ ' He thought sullenly as he braced against a tree.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Cobra continued to stumble forward, holding a hand to the side of his head, the blood having dried on the side of his face with the actual wound having ceased its flow of blood.

Catching his breath, Cobra pushed away from the tree and walked forward, his legs feeling like spaghetti as he struggled to press onwards. Finding another tree to lean against, he slid to the forest floor and leaned his head against the tree.

With shallow breaths, the Dragon Slayer slipped into unconsciousness, his superb hearing unable to alert him to the approaching figure.

"I see… It's as he said, you would return, Cobra." Makarov spoke under his breath. "And to think I didn't have faith…."

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 **A/N:** If you read the first version of this story, you're probably confused by the length of this. 'Why isn't it 10k words per chapter', you may be wondering if you're somewhat familiar with this, but the answer is quite simple - _"That was fucking bullshit."_

 _Leave a Review if you want to. If you don't want to, that's fine._


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